BET’S PARTY

When Bet awoke the next morning she gave a little cry of delight as she looked out on the white world. The trees were heavy with snow and everything had been changed to a magic garden.

“If I’d had any idea that we were going to have snow, I’d have had a coasting party tomorrow night.”

After the thrill the girls had experienced in their Christmas giving, they now looked forward to their own pleasures. Even Christmas day seemed to be insignificant when compared to the prospect of the party.

Although Bet’s father had made arrangements for the party, it was not with his usual enthusiasm, and Bet watched him carefully, thinking he was ill. But the Colonel laughed her fears away. And from then on he tried to hide from his little daughter the fact that he was worried.

Business investments had all gone wrong. In fact everything he had touched for the last year had been a disappointment. Now it seemed as if the only way to save what he had was to get a large sum of money, and in these uncertain tunes, that was impossible. Unless he sold the Manor.

It was this problem that was worrying him. He could not bear to give up his home. It was here that he had brought his young wife and for two years had lived in a Paradise. Her early death had crushed him for a time, and it was only in the Manor where the dear memories of her happy spirit filled each room, that he was content.

It was the fear that he might have to give up his home, that made Colonel Baxter worry, and Bet watched him with troubled eyes.

He had put forth an extra effort to appear happy during the Christmas season, and he tried to throw himself into the plans for the party with his usual enthusiasm.

Bet saw the difference, but wisely said nothing.

At the Colonel’s suggestion, they decided on a costume party. That would give the girls a chance to wear some of the lovely old dresses that he had collected.

Bet was terribly disappointed when her father came hurrying in at noon before the party with the announcement that he had a business call to Chicago, and would not be able to attend the party.

“Then we’ll put it off, Daddy. A party wouldn’t be any fun without you.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that, Bet. Think of the many who would be disappointed if you postpone it. Then too, I may not be back for two weeks. It is a business matter that I must attend to. It’s important.”

Reluctantly Bet went on with her plans. There were a few tears when she told the bad news to her chums in the afternoon.

“That’s the worst of having a father who plays with you,” said Joy. “I never expect my mother and father to care about my good times.”

“I just can’t make it a real success without Dad,” exclaimed Bet tearfully.

“You can, if you try, Bet Baxter. So brace up and stop your sniffling!”

“I wasn’t sniffling, Joy Evans,” exploded Bet.

“What do you call it, then?” laughed Joy.

“Just a few regretful tears.”

Even Shirley, the serious one laughed heartily at Bet. And in a few minutes they were busy with their plans.

“Say Bet, what possessed you to ask Edith Whalen? I’ve tried to be glad but it isn’t in me to be,” said Joy.

“I’m not glad, myself, but what’s the use of being a Merriweather Girl unless you live up to the heroine of the Manor? Lady Betty would have asked her, I’m sure,” replied Bet.

“Then she must have been an angel!” exclaimed Kit, who had so much joy taken out of her school life by the unpleasant remarks of Edith and her friend Vivian Long, that she did not welcome the thought of meeting her at the party.

“Lady Betty was an angel!” cried Bet, tossing a kiss to the smiling face above her.

“Then why did we take her as an ideal? Who can live up to an angel? I can’t,” said Kit sadly.

“None of us can, but Dad says it’s a good thing to have a star to aim at. Course it’s away above our heads but we can aim, just the same. She’s our star. Each of us can have our own pet ones. I have my lovely mother, who is another angel. She’s for myself, but Lady Betty is a company affair.”

“Did you think all that out, Bet?” asked Shirley.

“Dad helped me. It troubled me to have Lady Betty for our club ideal! It seemed like putting her before my mother, then Dad explained that I could hardly share mother! And that makes it all right.”

“I think Lady Betty is pleased, don’t you. She smiles so sweetly,” whispered Kit.

“She always smiled sweetly, even when she was having terrible troubles. She didn’t cry just over a disappointment. She was brave!” Bet straightened up and brushed a tear away.

“We’ll have to be like her,” laughed Kit as she added: “And believe me, it takes bravery to meet Edith.”

“Therefore Kit Patten, I’m going to give you full charge of Edith tonight. See that she has a good time,” commanded Bet.

“Hold on there, Bet Baxter. I’m a bucking bronco and you can’t trust me to drive in harness. I’ll disgrace you! Like as not when Edith puts on that superior air, I’ll take her by the arm and escort her out of doors.”

“No, you won’t. I know you!” Bet patted her friend lovingly.

“Just the same, I hope her mother will keep her at home on account of the snow storm.”

Kit did better than she thought she could. The fact that the four Merriweather Girls were the hostesses and received the guests as they came in, gave Kit prestige that Edith dared not ignore.

Some of the guests in gay and weird costumes had arrived when the phone rang. Laura Sands’ voice was husky with crying. “Oh Bet, I can’t come. I’ve ruined my costume and I won’t go without one.”

“You come right along up here, Laura. I have lot of costumes and you can take your pick.”

Laura arrived in ordinary clothes and Bet and Kit conducted her to the attic to choose a Colonial gown.

When the door to the narrow stairway was opened, Bet heard a queer scraping sound as if one of the old trunks had been moved.

“What’s that?” asked Kit. “Do you suppose it’s rats?”

“No, don’t worry! It isn’t anything!” But as Bet switched on the light and reached the top step she was just in time to see a figure in bright clothes go out the window. She heard the sound of a thud on the veranda of the second floor and running feet along the corridor.

“Somebody was in here!” exclaimed Bet.

“Don’t be silly, Bet! I thought you were too big to be frightened in the dark.”

“Well look at that window, Kit Patten! Did we leave it open? We certainly didn’t. And look how the costumes are all tumbled out of the chests! A man has been in here, anyway. I saw him slide out that window.”

“And look at the footprints!” exclaimed Kit.

“Nothing to worry about. This is a costume party and someone is playing a trick on us,” decided Kit.

“Maybe so,” assented Bet. “But if so, why didn’t they play their tricks instead of just mussing things up and then running away?”

Grabbing a gown of gold cloth, Bet exclaimed, “Come on, girls, let’s get out of here. It’s spooky!”

“Lock the window first, Bet. Then if anyone is prowling around they can’t get back this way,” Kit suggested.

“Who could it have been?” puzzled Bob Evans when they reported the episode to the guests. “I know all the boys, and none of them would do a thing like that.”

Phil and Bob rushed out to the veranda but saw no one on the grounds. Uncle Nat’s sharp eyes soon picked up the footprints in the snow and followed them to the road where they were lost. On his return, he let Smiley Jim out of the basement, and the dog ran around the house, quite excited, with so many people around.

The young people decided that it might be one of the guests trying to fool the others.

“But I don’t believe it,” said Bet emphatically.

The gown chosen for Laura Sands was an old French costume and when the girls dressed her she looked like a queen.

“Why girls, she looks exactly like a picture of Marie Antoinette, don’t you think so, Bet?” called Kit.

“And I know just the thing to make it perfect.”

“The fan! She must carry the queen’s fan!”

“Oh Bet, I wouldn’t do that! You know your father prizes that fan so much.”

“He won’t care. Anyway, Laura will be careful.”

Bet ran up stairs to her father’s den, rummaged in the drawers and found the fan.

“Here, Laura, you may carry this, but be very careful for it’s one of my father’s treasures. He loves that fan.”

“Oh I’ll be careful. Isn’t it beautiful!”

“If I were you, Laura, I’d take a few turns around the rooms, show off the fan and then put it away. It’s an antique and I know it’s valuable.”

It was Phil Gordon who spoke, as he examined the fan and returned it to her.

But Laura did not seem to realize that the fan had any great value. Phil picked it up several times when she had left it carelessly on chairs or tables, and after it had been lost and found several times, he refused to give it back to her.

In the midst of the gaiety, Joy ran into the room, pale with fright. “I don’t think it’s fair,” she complained. “One of the boys was hiding in the hall, and frightened me.”

“Who was it?” demanded Bet indignantly.

“I don’t know,” replied Joy. “He ran down the hall as fast as he could go.”

“Let’s find him,” exclaimed Phil Gordon.

“And if it’s one of the boys we’ll send him home,” said Bob.

“I wish you would.” Bet was troubled. With her father away, she felt that the young people should not take advantage in that way.

But they could not find anyone in the rooms.

“Maybe you just imagined it, Joy,” said brother.

“No, I don’t think she did. I heard a noise a little while ago when I put the fan away. I thought at the time it was Smiley Jim.”

“When was that?” asked Bet.

“About fifteen minutes ago, I left the fan on top of your father’s desk, Bet.”

“All right, Phil. But I’d certainly like to know who is prowling around.”

“It’s probably one of the boys from the village who didn’t get an invitation. They do that sometimes,” suggested Phil. “They are probably trying to break up the party, and we’re letting them do it."’

“That’s right!” exclaimed the young people. “Aren’t we silly! Let’s get back to the games.”

The scare was soon forgotten as the boys and girls became engrossed in their play and Smiley was brought in to do tricks.

But after the last guest had gone and Bet and her three chums, who were to spend the night with her, were tucked into bed. Bet thought she heard noise in her father’s room.

She was out of bed in a second. “Oh I do believe Daddy came back after all,” she whispered a ran into the den.

As she switched on the light, she imagined she saw a shadow at the window. Then she took herself in hand. “Bet Baxter, you’re being silly! Just because you saw someone going out the attic window you imagine you see it again! Go back to bed!”

As she was returning to her room, she had an idea and slipped down to the basement quietly so she wouldn’t waken Uncle Nat. She opened the door and Smiley Jim bounded into the garden with a growl.

As Bet went up stairs again, she heard the dog running about and smiled to herself. “He’s had so much excitement, he’s nervous too.”

Reaching her room she saw her father’s photograph on her desk. She picked it up, “Dear old Dad, I wonder what was worrying you when you went away today. You looked so sad. I’m so silly I never want to see anything but joy on your dear face. Goodnight Daddy boy!” And Bet slipped into bed and was soon fast asleep.